Plume-washing machine



l. TESSA.

PLUME WASHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11. 1920.

Patented Nov. 22, 1921..

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

$88.58 I j v j A TTURNE Y8 l. TESSA.

PLUME WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1'1, 1920.

- Patented Nov. 22,1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Arronusys I. TESSA.

PLUME WASHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB, 1 I,

Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

SHEET 3.

a sn'ms A TTORIVE V5 PATENT OFFICE.

I'ACOIPO TFSSA, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PLUME-WASHING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov..22, 19 21.

Application filed February 11 1920. Serial No. 357,881;

TaaZZ whomc't may concern:

Be it known thatI, IAOOPO TussA, a subject of the King of Italy, but having declared my. intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borou h of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and tate of New York, have invented a new and Improved Plume Washingv Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to washing apparatus and especially to machines for the rapid, efficient and uniform cleansing of plumes or the like objects that are adapted to be carried in relatively fixed position by or upon a movable carrier.

Among the objects of the invention therefore' is to provide a machine, preferably power operated, having facilities for having attached in definiteposition upon a carrier a large number, of pieces or units to be washed or cleansed and whereby the operation of the carrier and the units through a supply of water or other cleansing medium said units are adapted to be thoroughly saturated and are then subsequently subjected to auxiliary means in the nature of scrubbers or agitators having movement transverse to the direction of movement of the carrier.

Another object of the invention is to provide a special means for attaching the plumes to the carrier.

With theforegoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of partshereinafter described and claimed,-and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the machine and swung upward and rearward as suggested in Fig. 2. The main or lower portion of the drum is designed to carry a supply of cleansing fluid of any suitable nature, and leading from the bottom thereof is a drain pipe 14'fitted with avalve to control the flow of the fluid from the drum.

The drum is mounted within or supported upon any suitable stand or support includ ing preferably rigid horizontal end plates 16 supported upon legs 17 a Journaled centrally in said plates 16 and extending through the'center of the drum is a main shaft 18 having at one end a large gear 19 representing a suitable means for driving or rotating said shaft. This gear is shown meshing with a pinion 20 splined to a power shaft 21 having a pulley 22, or its equivalent, fixed to one endthereof backof the machine. The pinion is held from endwise movement by means of a bracket 23 secured to one of the plates 16, but because of the spline connection the shaft is adapted to be movedendwise within the pinion, but irrespective of such endwise movement the rotation of the power shaft will cause the rotation of the pinion and the drum shaft.

Mounted centrally within the drum and upon the shaft 18 is a large skeleton spool or carrier 24 comprisingany suitable num-' ber of wheels or spiders 25 fixedto the shaft and between which extend a circular series of parallel bars 26 constituting what might be called the relatively fixed jaws of plume I holding clamps. The bars also serve in connection with the spiders 25 as the main framework of the carrier.

Each bar 26 is longitudinally recessed or channeled from one end to) the other as shown at 27, the bottom of the channel being of acute angular form, and movably fitted in said channel or extending thereinto is the relatively movable jaw member'28 of terior surface of the carrier atthe rear of the jaws or clamp. Fitted upon the surface of the fixed jaw is a resilient member 30 constitutin a cushion against or upon which the quil ends of the plumes P are placed.

As indicated at the right side of Fig. 5, the. main portions of the plumes extendrearward and lie along the cylindrical surface of thecarrier. Projecting endwise from the ends of the jaw 28 are rigid pins 31 which project through slots 32 formed in the end guards or flanges 33 of the carrier, the slots being formed as arcs of circles from the axis of the hinge 29. Cooperating with the projected ends of the pins 31 are any suitable latch devices 34 shown as members pivoted at 35 to the outer faces of the end spiders 25. Afterthe stems or quills of the plumes are laid into the-channel 27 the movable jaw 28 is swung downward upon the same and the latches 34 are swung over the pins to lock said movable jaw in gripping position and holding the quills againstthe cushion 30. The latches consequently hold the movable jaws or the clamps firmly in position during the operation of the machine. After one of the clamps has been filled the carrier will be rotated to the next step for the filling of the next clamp and so on throughout 7 the entire carrier or until all of the plumes are inserted. v n

The spaces between adjacent bars 26 along the cylindrical surface of the carrier are filled with any suitable plates indicated as of corrugated strips 36, the corrugations extending circumferentially of the carrier. Consequently the tips of the plumes lie upon these corrugated surfaces. With the carrier loaded as just described the plumes will be ing action of the fluid.

carried thereby as a result of the rotation of the carrier into and through the supplyof cleansing fluid in'the drum and so the articles to be washed are subjected to the cleans- Cotiperating with the carrier and caused to rotate thereby or in any other manner coincidentally therewith are auxiliary scrubbing or agitating devices shown in this instance as comprising a scrubbing roller 37 journaled upon a shaft 38 at the rear of the carrier. The roller may be of any suitable construction but indlcated as solid and bemg provided with a surface composed of .fingers or projections 37 This roller may .be made of rubber and so the fingers or provjections may be solid but of a flexible nature. Among their function is to agitate the strands of the plumes and assist in the rotate because of the direct cooperation therewithof the carrier. In addition however to the rotation of the roller 37 it may be causedto reciprocate in directions parallel to the axis of. the carrier or along the shaft 38. To thisfend I provide a slidable shoe 39 (see Fig. 3) attached at 40 to one end'of the shaft 38 and having its other endattached at 41 to the arm 42 of an eccentric strap 43 journaled upon aneccentric 44 splined to the power shaft 21. The shoe is adapted to reciprocate along the guideway 45 of a slide 46, the extent of movement of the shoe being in accordance with the eccentricity orthrow of the eccentric 44 re sulting from the rotation of the power shaft. The slide 46 is mounted for endwise movement along a guideway 47 formed in the plate 16, but the sliding of the slide in the guideway 47 does not affect the, action of the eccentric in continuing the reciprocations of the shoe 39. c

The other agitating, device illustrated comprises a bristle brush or its equivalent 48 mounted upon a shaft 49 at the front side of the carrier and at substantially the same level as the shaft 38. This brush is preferably drivenpositively as from the power shaft 21 through miter gears 50 and'51, the gear 50 being fixed to the power shaft and the gear 51 being mounted upon and adapted to be fixed by any suitable means such as same direction as the carrier, but at somewhat higher speed, but since thedirection of rotation of these two membersv is the same and the adjacent surfaces thereof are moving in opposite directions the effect will be to cause the bristles of the brush to have the best possible cleansing effect upon the plumes just after the plumes have been carried forward from the cleansing fluid and subsequently to having been scrubbed. In addition to the rotation of the brush it is caused to reciprocate parallel to the carrier by means of an'eccentric 52 fixed to the shaft 21 adjacent to the pinion 50. The eccentric actuates a strap 53 having an arm 54 connected to a shoe 55 slidable along a guideway 56 constituting a portion of a slide 57 movable in a guideway 58 at the other end of the plate 16. The 'shoe 55 is connected to a neckportion 49of the shaft 49 whereby the reciprocations of the shoe due to the action of the eccentric 52 will cause a Y- the reciprocations of the brush j Any suitable means may be provided to control the position of the agitating means 37 and 48 with respect tothe carrier and devices carried thereby, and to this end I provide a bail like manually operated lever 59 having a handle 60 accessible at the front of the machine. In fact I prefer to use a lever 59 at each end of the machine, each connected to a double ended arm 61 journaled on the shaft 18 on the outside of the drum. To the opposite ends of each 01 these arms are connected rods or links 62 and 63 having pivotal connection at their opposite ends at 64 and 65 with the respective slides 46 and 57. As will be appreciated from Fig. 2 the elevation of the bail or handle 60 will cause the spreading of the agitator members away from the carrier and likewise the opposite movement of the bail will causetheagitators to be brought into close contact with the carrier. By reason of the spline connection between the shaft 21 and eccentric 4A the adjustment or movement of the slide 46 does not affect the action of the eccentric. The sliding of the slide 57 may likewise be effected without disturbing the action of the gear mechanism, the pinion 50 being movable with the slide 57 and the shaft 21 following such movement by virtue of the splinebetween the shaft and the pinion 20. Thus it will be seen that I provide a means for imparting a continuous rotation to the carrier, a continuous rotation of the brush 48 at a difierent speed from that of the carrier, the reciprocations of the two rotary agitators 37 and 48, and the adjustment of such agitators toward and from the carrier all at the same time; Hence the operator in charge of the machine may, by manipulation of the ban dle 60, control at all times the degree of pressure between the work and the agitating tools.

I claim:

1. In a plume washing machine, the combination of ,a receptacle for a cleansing medium, a carrier for plumes journaled therein, means to rotate the carrier around a horizontal axis to cause the plumes to be carried through the cleansing medium, agitating means auxiliaryto the carrier and cooperating therewith to act upon the plumes, and means to reciprocate the agitating means in directions parallel to the axis of the carrier.

2. In aplume Washing machine, the combination of a receptacle for a' cleansing medium, a carrier journaled therein for rotation around a horizontal axis, means to attach a plurality of plumes to the carrier, means to rotate the carrier and so cause the plumes to be carried through the cleansing medium, an agitating tool within the receptacle, means to both rotate and reciprocate the agitating tool coincident with the rotation of the carrier, and means to cause the bodily movement of the tool toward and from the carrier.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 in which the means for rotating the carrier includes a power shaft and a power transmitting member splined thereto and the means for rotating and reciprocating the tool includes a slide connected to the tool, a gear member on the power shaft, a gear member carried by the tool and adapted to co-act with said first gear member for ro= tating the tool from the power shaft, and connections between the power shaft and the slide to move the slide and the tool endwise.

4. The combination of a receptacle for a cleansing medium, a carrier journaled there in and including means to attach a plurality of units thereto for cleansing purposes, means to rotate the carrier to cause the units to be subjected to the cleansing medium, a scrubber cooperating with the carrier, means to reciprocate the scrubber longitudinally of the carrier and transverse to the direction of movement of the units, and brushing means cooperating with the carrier for action upon the units subsequently to their leaving the scrubber.

"IACOPO TESSA. 

